If as a child you weren’t quite up to scratch with your foreign language skills, years later you might have looked back with a shameful grin at what you actually heard and sang along to loudly while walking through the »Candy Shop«. The fact that the impact of this can sometimes still catch up with you as an adult today is relentlessly demonstrated by Alex Cameron. As on his three previous albums, on »Oxy Music« he again pushes unpleasant topics into nimble pop choruses and perfects them with cultural references and zeitgeist lyrics. »Best life« unleashes a whole tirade of Internet phrases and offers »a follow for a follow« if there are too few likes. In »Sara Jo«, the Australian seeks the blame for a dysfunctional family: »Who told my brother that his kids are gonna die from this vaccine? « This shouldn’t be fun, but with its staccato flow it’s so buzzy and whimsical that it makes your foot jiggle. Alex Cameron stands on shaky legs in the world of indie pop, because they would rather dance in the direction of synth glamour and bosom friend Roy Molloy with his saxophone cameos belongs more on the eighties dance floor. Only the rap feature by Lloyd Vines (»Cancel Culture«) and the snotty part by Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods on the title track clearly place the album in the modern era. As the nine songs and their gallant choruses progress, you start humming and whistling along. After a short while you catch yourself intoning at the top of your lungs: »There’s only room for one in the k-hole«. Then you smile ashamedly because many a laugh ought to stick in your throat and yet doesn’t with Alex Cameron.
Horsegirl
Phonetics On & On
Matador